When Is Justification
Sermon
CRITICAL DECISIONS IN FOLLOWING JESUS
Sermons ForPentecost (Last Third)
By Faith A Heresy?
Jesus was frequently dealing with people who needed correction, change, repentance, enlightenment or a new perspective. These people were often very religious, sometimes leaders of the synagogues who were well versed in the scriptures. They were people who believed in God, devout in their ways, and were eager to teach people the will of God as they had come to know it. They were intelligent and knowledgeable. But often they were wrong, misguided, blind or enslaved by tradition. Sometimes they had misunderstood the Torah or read only parts of it. Sometimes they had altered its original purpose to fit their self-centered purposes. Sometimes they had fallen into the trap of believing that blessing meant privilege, tradition meant truth, credentials meant insight. This led to arrogance and, at times, heresy.
I encourage you to read the gospels and notice how often you find Jesus correcting faulty beliefs or traditions. The scripture is full of stories of people who thought they had it all figured out but were wrong, or people who started out well but who didn't continue to be open to growth and discovery. When Jesus tried to correct these people or broaden their understanding, he often met resistance. Our text reads: "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been in bondage to anyone. What do you mean we will be made free?"
Those who said this to Jesus were people who had believed in him. They weren't outsiders who needed to be converted. They had taken step one. Jesus wants them to understand step 2 and step 3, as though to say, you're off to a good start but this is what discipleship is about. "If you continue in my Word." Discipleship is more than a start. It's a calling that continues. Real freedom means to continue in doing what the will of God is about. It is following Jesus, not just getting started.
Jesus wants them to know what the kingdom of God is about, what the bottom line is. A few Sundays ago we looked at the Isaiah 5 text and learned that the bottom line is about mishpat and zedekah, justice and righteousness. The kingdom of God is about the right ordering of relationships and resources among people and with creation. When all is said and done, what God is looking for is justice and righteousness. Last week we were reminded that the Great Judgment scene in Matthew 25 supports what Isaiah said. What really matters in the long run is how we respond to God's love by relating to our neighbor in need. "I was hungry and you fed me." That must have been what he meant when he said, "If you continue in my Word." Jesus was referring to justice and righteousness, the ordering of right relationships.
When this word comes home to us it may be as threatening as it was to the Jews in our text. We may be as defensive as they were because of our tradition, our self-assurance in what we have been taught to believe. There may be some things that need correcting - questioning - improvement - reforming in our church, in our ideas about God.
Let me say two things as background. Should you become disturbed or disappointed this morning, remember these two introductory words.
First, you don't have to agree with me. I may be wrong. God has not dictated to me what I am about to say. Everyone who listens to sermons should always ponder what is said. Test it out. Is it faithful to your understanding of God's Word? Is God speaking to you? You may not always agree or you may agree with some but not all. That's okay. We can disagree and still love one another.
Second, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am deeply grateful to the Lutheran Church. I am first of all a Christian, but I am also a Lutheran. The Lutheran Church has been good to me. I was born and raised in a devout Lutheran family. I was educated in the Lutheran system. It was my privilege to attend a Lutheran high school, a Lutheran college, a Lutheran Bible school, and a Lutheran seminary. I married a Lutheran and together we had Lutheran children. (ha). I have served four Lutheran churches and worked on the national staff of a Lutheran body. Through the Lutheran Church, I have learned that salvation is a gift and have heard the invitation to follow Jesus. I am grateful. I don't have any intention of leaving. There may be some things in the Lutheran Church I wish were different. No church is right on everything. The Lutheran Church is not above criticism or correction. I am glad that I feel free to say what I will say today. I say it out of love for my church.
It is Reformation Sunday. We remember what happened nearly 500 years ago. God raised up a priest by the name of Martin Luther who challenged the church to recover something he felt it had neglected or covered up. The church needed to reform, to wake up, to get back on track, to recover what it had lost. Both Catholics and Protestants honor the reformation as important to the life of the church. The reformation did not end when Luther died. The church is continually being reformed. Today, the Catholic Church, especially in Latin America, is challenging the church to remember its calling. Reformation continues.
One of the main teachings, if not the main one, that came out of Luther's theology was justification by faith. Lutherans believe strongly in justification by faith. Most Christians do. But this teaching is the prize and the pride of the reformation. No doubt the teaching of justification of faith is familiar to most of you.
Justification by faith means that we are accepted, and forgiven by God, not because we are good, or because we have earned it, but because God loves us. Our salvation is by grace alone. We are asked to believe it, receive it. Sinners are justified by "faith" not by works. This teaching is expressed in one of the hymns we sing; "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling." Justification by faith means you cannot earn your salvation. You cannot buy it. It is a gift. God initiates it. Christ died for it. God completes it. Salvation is a work of God.
I am thankful for that insight, that discovery, that teaching. It is thoroughly Biblical. I embrace it with all my heart. The giftedness of life and salvation, the gift of forgiveness and the promise of eternal life must never be forgotten or lost.
At the same time, I believe justification by faith has become a potential heresy in our church today. What do I mean by heresy? One definition of heresy is - a truth that is distorted, exaggerated, over emphasized; a truth that is not balanced with other truths. When I talk today about the heresy of justification by faith, I mean the use of it in such a way that it is distorted or causes us to neglect other truths, resulting in its becoming an escape from even more important truths.
Ernest Campbell, former pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, says that justification by faith is the most neglected and misunderstood teaching of the Christian faith. He says, "the term itself is heavy and the explanation usually given to interpret it heavier still." Campbell goes on to suggest that justification by faith is a starting point, not the goal of the Christian life. It has been proclaimed as an end in itself instead of as a means to the end.
I am wondering if the distortion of justification by faith has stifled the call to discipleship. As a result, we have churches full of people who have been baptized and confirmed but where few have taken up the cross to follow Jesus.
The primary focus of the Christian religion is the kingdom of God. Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God. His primary message was not justification by faith, but the kingdom of God. Everything else was a means to that end. His death on the cross was in order to bring the kingdom of God to this world. God is glorified when the kingdom comes. And so we pray "Thy kingdom come."
That kingdom or reign of God is a kingdom of justice and righteousness - mishpat and zedekah as learned from Isaiah 5. These two words mean the right ordering of relationships and resources so that all creation can experience wholeness. God blessed Israel so that Israel could be a blessing to the whole world. And what was God looking for? Justice and righteousness. "I looked for mishpat. I looked for zedekah (Isaiah 5:7)." In Amos 5, we learn that beautiful worship, right liturgies, music at its best, inspiring preaching are all regarded as worthless - useless when the people were not doing mishpat and zedekah. "Let justice and righteousness roll down like water." That's the bottom line for Israel and the church. That's what the kingdom is about. Being justified by faith is a beginning so that may happen.
When we move into the second testament and learn what Jesus' life was about, we catch the same vision. Did God change his mind when Jesus came? No! God didn't become more loving. Salvation was not easier. God's agenda for the world did not change. Jesus announced his mission at the beginning of his ministry. Look at Luke 4:18. Jesus came to preach good news to the poor and let the oppressed go free. Justice has always had a special focus on the poor ... release of the captives ... sight to the blind ... liberty for the oppressed. Jesus announced a year of jubilee. That meant a new beginning for everyone. It was about justice and righteousness, about redistribution of wealth. All of Jesus' mission was addressed to mishpat and zedekah. It's there, clear and simple.
Everything we do and teach in the church needs to be examined by how it leads us to join God so that the kingdom might come. The work of mishpat and zedekah. That's what God's love is about. That's what the kingdom of God is about. That's what justification by faith is about.
It has been my experience that our strong emphasis on justification by faith has not resulted in a strong emphasis on justice and righteousness. In fact it may have done just the opposite. It may have served as an escape from doing justice and righteousness. Grace has become cheap grace and the vision of and energy for justice have been lost. Justification has become an end in itself. For some it has become a heresy.
I'll only mention a few examples of what I mean:
1. A distorted emphasis on justification by faith has led to an escape from concern for this world to an "other worldly" religion. We are so worried about getting ourselves to heaven - preparing for the next life - waiting for the final victory, that there is little energy or interest in working for justice and righteousness on earth. In church after church that I visited in my former job, I discovered that if they announced an adult forum on the second coming of Christ, the forum would be well attended. But if they announced an adult forum on Christian response to world hunger, only a few would show up.
We are more concerned about heaven than about loving our neighbor. That's a result of heresy in the church. Our hymnal is full of hymns about the next life and transcendent themes, but the theme of justice and peace is only found in a few. Thank God that's starting to change.
2. A distorted emphasis on justification by faith has resulted in a church that gathers people who believe in God but who are not following Jesus. We have pushed so hard to insist that our works will not save us, that there is little emphasis on the call to follow. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it well in his book Cost Of Discipleship.
We Lutherans have gathered like eagles round the carcass of cheap grace, and there we have drunk of the poison that has killed the life of following Christ ... We have given away the Word and sacraments wholesale; we baptized, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation without asking awkward questions or insisting on strict conditions. Our humanitarian sentiment made us give that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving. We
poured forth unending streams of grace. But the call to
follow Jesus was hardly ever heard.
Jon Sabrino, a priest from El Salvador, calls for a new look at Christology. He says we need to recover the essential message of the gospels. Jesus said, "Come, follow me." When justification by faith takes precedence over the call to follow Jesus, we are in trouble.
3. A distorted emphasis on justification by faith has led to an individualistic, privatistic religion. Many people see salvation as primarily "me and Jesus," failing to realize that when you invite Jesus into your life, he never comes alone. He always brings your neighbor with him.
Nearly two thirds of church members are absent from worship every Sunday. Why? Many people today see the church as a place where we can slip in, slip out, without any commitment to the Christian community. After all, they are justified by their individual faith. My faith is between me and God, they say. I can worship God as well or better on the golf course. I don't need the church. That's heresy. I wonder if our use of justification by faith as a criterion to see if someone is truly gospel-centered is not partly to blame for this self-centeredness in our faith.
4. A distorted use of justification by faith has resulted in a kind of quietism regarding public life, an acceptance of the cultural values of society. There is little commitment to work for a more just society because the bottom line has been "getting my sins forgiven " - not justice and righteousness. There is a strong reluctance to take a prophetic stand against systems that cause injustice. We don't want to get involved in politics. We confuse capitalism or free enterprise with Christianity without asking; "Are we growing and becoming rich on the backs of the poor around the world?" The gospel is narrowly defined as our vertical relationship with God and the horizontal one is secondary.
In our churches there are symbols that help us in our worship. Many churches place the country's flag the same distance from the altar as the Christian flag, suggesting that we honor and worship the state and we honor and worship God on some kind of equal basis. That's heresy. I love my country but I don't worship the empire. The kingdom of God is about justice not patriotism. If justification by faith was understood to be a means to the end, the end being a world of justice and righteousness, we would not be as apt to divorce our politics and economics from our faith.
5. A distorted use of justification by faith has resulted in the absence of conversions in our churches. We Lutherans generally don't know how to talk about conversion ... handle conversion ... call for conversion ... follow up on conversions. If someone comes and says "I want to become a Christian," we are likely to respond, "You've perhaps always been a Christian. You have been justified by faith."
The church is lacking in interest and involvement in mishpat and zedekah because many of us need to be converted to Jesus Christ, to following Jesus. We may need to be changed in our hearts. We may need to be born again. Something needs to happen on the inside of us so that the center of our attention is not our sins, or our getting to heaven, but the kingdom of God, justice and righteousness. We are weak in evangelism and the call to conversion because of our distorted use of justification by faith. Jim Wallis in his book, Call to Conversion, reminds us that understanding conversion, and the need for it, is really the central issue for today's churches.
6. A distorted use of justification by faith leads to an absence of speech on the teaching of judgment found in the scriptures. No one wants to be called a "hell fire" preacher. I certainly don't want that reputation. We don't want to send people home feeling guilty or upset or they may transfer to another church down the street. So we have leaned over backward to avoid the word of judgment. We don't talk about the weeping and gnashing of teeth like Jesus did.
Is not the cross about God's judgment, as well as God's grace? Frankly, the passage in Matthew 25 is awkward for us because of our strong emphasis on justification by faith. "Depart from me - for I was hungry and you did not feed me." Where is grace in that text? Did you notice last week how I skipped over verses 5 and 6 in Isaiah 5 where God removes the hedge and it does not rain any more on the vines. Verses 5 and 6 are a word of judgment. We are all eager to hear a word or promise, not judgment.
The scriptures, for example, say that to withhold the tithes from God is to rob God and robbing God brings judgment. We say, "give what you want and then ask God to forgive you. After all, we are justified by faith not by works." Does our teaching of justification by faith cause us to pass over the word of judgment?
What do we say to all this? Is there any good news? Yes, there is.
I want you to know we all fall short of justice and righteousness. I know I do. We need God's forgiveness. And God's grace is there for us. God will forgive us. Why? So that we might be cleansed and changed. So that we might join in the struggle for justice and righteousness, in the work of the kingdom. The good news is that God has not given up on us. The call to follow Jesus is still heard.
Jesus comes to us today as he came to the Jews who believed in him, and he says, "If you continue in my Word, then you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free."
We are justified by faith. That's God's business. Now we are called to continue in God's way by laying down our lives for others. That's our business. Amen.
Jesus was frequently dealing with people who needed correction, change, repentance, enlightenment or a new perspective. These people were often very religious, sometimes leaders of the synagogues who were well versed in the scriptures. They were people who believed in God, devout in their ways, and were eager to teach people the will of God as they had come to know it. They were intelligent and knowledgeable. But often they were wrong, misguided, blind or enslaved by tradition. Sometimes they had misunderstood the Torah or read only parts of it. Sometimes they had altered its original purpose to fit their self-centered purposes. Sometimes they had fallen into the trap of believing that blessing meant privilege, tradition meant truth, credentials meant insight. This led to arrogance and, at times, heresy.
I encourage you to read the gospels and notice how often you find Jesus correcting faulty beliefs or traditions. The scripture is full of stories of people who thought they had it all figured out but were wrong, or people who started out well but who didn't continue to be open to growth and discovery. When Jesus tried to correct these people or broaden their understanding, he often met resistance. Our text reads: "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been in bondage to anyone. What do you mean we will be made free?"
Those who said this to Jesus were people who had believed in him. They weren't outsiders who needed to be converted. They had taken step one. Jesus wants them to understand step 2 and step 3, as though to say, you're off to a good start but this is what discipleship is about. "If you continue in my Word." Discipleship is more than a start. It's a calling that continues. Real freedom means to continue in doing what the will of God is about. It is following Jesus, not just getting started.
Jesus wants them to know what the kingdom of God is about, what the bottom line is. A few Sundays ago we looked at the Isaiah 5 text and learned that the bottom line is about mishpat and zedekah, justice and righteousness. The kingdom of God is about the right ordering of relationships and resources among people and with creation. When all is said and done, what God is looking for is justice and righteousness. Last week we were reminded that the Great Judgment scene in Matthew 25 supports what Isaiah said. What really matters in the long run is how we respond to God's love by relating to our neighbor in need. "I was hungry and you fed me." That must have been what he meant when he said, "If you continue in my Word." Jesus was referring to justice and righteousness, the ordering of right relationships.
When this word comes home to us it may be as threatening as it was to the Jews in our text. We may be as defensive as they were because of our tradition, our self-assurance in what we have been taught to believe. There may be some things that need correcting - questioning - improvement - reforming in our church, in our ideas about God.
Let me say two things as background. Should you become disturbed or disappointed this morning, remember these two introductory words.
First, you don't have to agree with me. I may be wrong. God has not dictated to me what I am about to say. Everyone who listens to sermons should always ponder what is said. Test it out. Is it faithful to your understanding of God's Word? Is God speaking to you? You may not always agree or you may agree with some but not all. That's okay. We can disagree and still love one another.
Second, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am deeply grateful to the Lutheran Church. I am first of all a Christian, but I am also a Lutheran. The Lutheran Church has been good to me. I was born and raised in a devout Lutheran family. I was educated in the Lutheran system. It was my privilege to attend a Lutheran high school, a Lutheran college, a Lutheran Bible school, and a Lutheran seminary. I married a Lutheran and together we had Lutheran children. (ha). I have served four Lutheran churches and worked on the national staff of a Lutheran body. Through the Lutheran Church, I have learned that salvation is a gift and have heard the invitation to follow Jesus. I am grateful. I don't have any intention of leaving. There may be some things in the Lutheran Church I wish were different. No church is right on everything. The Lutheran Church is not above criticism or correction. I am glad that I feel free to say what I will say today. I say it out of love for my church.
It is Reformation Sunday. We remember what happened nearly 500 years ago. God raised up a priest by the name of Martin Luther who challenged the church to recover something he felt it had neglected or covered up. The church needed to reform, to wake up, to get back on track, to recover what it had lost. Both Catholics and Protestants honor the reformation as important to the life of the church. The reformation did not end when Luther died. The church is continually being reformed. Today, the Catholic Church, especially in Latin America, is challenging the church to remember its calling. Reformation continues.
One of the main teachings, if not the main one, that came out of Luther's theology was justification by faith. Lutherans believe strongly in justification by faith. Most Christians do. But this teaching is the prize and the pride of the reformation. No doubt the teaching of justification of faith is familiar to most of you.
Justification by faith means that we are accepted, and forgiven by God, not because we are good, or because we have earned it, but because God loves us. Our salvation is by grace alone. We are asked to believe it, receive it. Sinners are justified by "faith" not by works. This teaching is expressed in one of the hymns we sing; "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling." Justification by faith means you cannot earn your salvation. You cannot buy it. It is a gift. God initiates it. Christ died for it. God completes it. Salvation is a work of God.
I am thankful for that insight, that discovery, that teaching. It is thoroughly Biblical. I embrace it with all my heart. The giftedness of life and salvation, the gift of forgiveness and the promise of eternal life must never be forgotten or lost.
At the same time, I believe justification by faith has become a potential heresy in our church today. What do I mean by heresy? One definition of heresy is - a truth that is distorted, exaggerated, over emphasized; a truth that is not balanced with other truths. When I talk today about the heresy of justification by faith, I mean the use of it in such a way that it is distorted or causes us to neglect other truths, resulting in its becoming an escape from even more important truths.
Ernest Campbell, former pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, says that justification by faith is the most neglected and misunderstood teaching of the Christian faith. He says, "the term itself is heavy and the explanation usually given to interpret it heavier still." Campbell goes on to suggest that justification by faith is a starting point, not the goal of the Christian life. It has been proclaimed as an end in itself instead of as a means to the end.
I am wondering if the distortion of justification by faith has stifled the call to discipleship. As a result, we have churches full of people who have been baptized and confirmed but where few have taken up the cross to follow Jesus.
The primary focus of the Christian religion is the kingdom of God. Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God. His primary message was not justification by faith, but the kingdom of God. Everything else was a means to that end. His death on the cross was in order to bring the kingdom of God to this world. God is glorified when the kingdom comes. And so we pray "Thy kingdom come."
That kingdom or reign of God is a kingdom of justice and righteousness - mishpat and zedekah as learned from Isaiah 5. These two words mean the right ordering of relationships and resources so that all creation can experience wholeness. God blessed Israel so that Israel could be a blessing to the whole world. And what was God looking for? Justice and righteousness. "I looked for mishpat. I looked for zedekah (Isaiah 5:7)." In Amos 5, we learn that beautiful worship, right liturgies, music at its best, inspiring preaching are all regarded as worthless - useless when the people were not doing mishpat and zedekah. "Let justice and righteousness roll down like water." That's the bottom line for Israel and the church. That's what the kingdom is about. Being justified by faith is a beginning so that may happen.
When we move into the second testament and learn what Jesus' life was about, we catch the same vision. Did God change his mind when Jesus came? No! God didn't become more loving. Salvation was not easier. God's agenda for the world did not change. Jesus announced his mission at the beginning of his ministry. Look at Luke 4:18. Jesus came to preach good news to the poor and let the oppressed go free. Justice has always had a special focus on the poor ... release of the captives ... sight to the blind ... liberty for the oppressed. Jesus announced a year of jubilee. That meant a new beginning for everyone. It was about justice and righteousness, about redistribution of wealth. All of Jesus' mission was addressed to mishpat and zedekah. It's there, clear and simple.
Everything we do and teach in the church needs to be examined by how it leads us to join God so that the kingdom might come. The work of mishpat and zedekah. That's what God's love is about. That's what the kingdom of God is about. That's what justification by faith is about.
It has been my experience that our strong emphasis on justification by faith has not resulted in a strong emphasis on justice and righteousness. In fact it may have done just the opposite. It may have served as an escape from doing justice and righteousness. Grace has become cheap grace and the vision of and energy for justice have been lost. Justification has become an end in itself. For some it has become a heresy.
I'll only mention a few examples of what I mean:
1. A distorted emphasis on justification by faith has led to an escape from concern for this world to an "other worldly" religion. We are so worried about getting ourselves to heaven - preparing for the next life - waiting for the final victory, that there is little energy or interest in working for justice and righteousness on earth. In church after church that I visited in my former job, I discovered that if they announced an adult forum on the second coming of Christ, the forum would be well attended. But if they announced an adult forum on Christian response to world hunger, only a few would show up.
We are more concerned about heaven than about loving our neighbor. That's a result of heresy in the church. Our hymnal is full of hymns about the next life and transcendent themes, but the theme of justice and peace is only found in a few. Thank God that's starting to change.
2. A distorted emphasis on justification by faith has resulted in a church that gathers people who believe in God but who are not following Jesus. We have pushed so hard to insist that our works will not save us, that there is little emphasis on the call to follow. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it well in his book Cost Of Discipleship.
We Lutherans have gathered like eagles round the carcass of cheap grace, and there we have drunk of the poison that has killed the life of following Christ ... We have given away the Word and sacraments wholesale; we baptized, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation without asking awkward questions or insisting on strict conditions. Our humanitarian sentiment made us give that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving. We
poured forth unending streams of grace. But the call to
follow Jesus was hardly ever heard.
Jon Sabrino, a priest from El Salvador, calls for a new look at Christology. He says we need to recover the essential message of the gospels. Jesus said, "Come, follow me." When justification by faith takes precedence over the call to follow Jesus, we are in trouble.
3. A distorted emphasis on justification by faith has led to an individualistic, privatistic religion. Many people see salvation as primarily "me and Jesus," failing to realize that when you invite Jesus into your life, he never comes alone. He always brings your neighbor with him.
Nearly two thirds of church members are absent from worship every Sunday. Why? Many people today see the church as a place where we can slip in, slip out, without any commitment to the Christian community. After all, they are justified by their individual faith. My faith is between me and God, they say. I can worship God as well or better on the golf course. I don't need the church. That's heresy. I wonder if our use of justification by faith as a criterion to see if someone is truly gospel-centered is not partly to blame for this self-centeredness in our faith.
4. A distorted use of justification by faith has resulted in a kind of quietism regarding public life, an acceptance of the cultural values of society. There is little commitment to work for a more just society because the bottom line has been "getting my sins forgiven " - not justice and righteousness. There is a strong reluctance to take a prophetic stand against systems that cause injustice. We don't want to get involved in politics. We confuse capitalism or free enterprise with Christianity without asking; "Are we growing and becoming rich on the backs of the poor around the world?" The gospel is narrowly defined as our vertical relationship with God and the horizontal one is secondary.
In our churches there are symbols that help us in our worship. Many churches place the country's flag the same distance from the altar as the Christian flag, suggesting that we honor and worship the state and we honor and worship God on some kind of equal basis. That's heresy. I love my country but I don't worship the empire. The kingdom of God is about justice not patriotism. If justification by faith was understood to be a means to the end, the end being a world of justice and righteousness, we would not be as apt to divorce our politics and economics from our faith.
5. A distorted use of justification by faith has resulted in the absence of conversions in our churches. We Lutherans generally don't know how to talk about conversion ... handle conversion ... call for conversion ... follow up on conversions. If someone comes and says "I want to become a Christian," we are likely to respond, "You've perhaps always been a Christian. You have been justified by faith."
The church is lacking in interest and involvement in mishpat and zedekah because many of us need to be converted to Jesus Christ, to following Jesus. We may need to be changed in our hearts. We may need to be born again. Something needs to happen on the inside of us so that the center of our attention is not our sins, or our getting to heaven, but the kingdom of God, justice and righteousness. We are weak in evangelism and the call to conversion because of our distorted use of justification by faith. Jim Wallis in his book, Call to Conversion, reminds us that understanding conversion, and the need for it, is really the central issue for today's churches.
6. A distorted use of justification by faith leads to an absence of speech on the teaching of judgment found in the scriptures. No one wants to be called a "hell fire" preacher. I certainly don't want that reputation. We don't want to send people home feeling guilty or upset or they may transfer to another church down the street. So we have leaned over backward to avoid the word of judgment. We don't talk about the weeping and gnashing of teeth like Jesus did.
Is not the cross about God's judgment, as well as God's grace? Frankly, the passage in Matthew 25 is awkward for us because of our strong emphasis on justification by faith. "Depart from me - for I was hungry and you did not feed me." Where is grace in that text? Did you notice last week how I skipped over verses 5 and 6 in Isaiah 5 where God removes the hedge and it does not rain any more on the vines. Verses 5 and 6 are a word of judgment. We are all eager to hear a word or promise, not judgment.
The scriptures, for example, say that to withhold the tithes from God is to rob God and robbing God brings judgment. We say, "give what you want and then ask God to forgive you. After all, we are justified by faith not by works." Does our teaching of justification by faith cause us to pass over the word of judgment?
What do we say to all this? Is there any good news? Yes, there is.
I want you to know we all fall short of justice and righteousness. I know I do. We need God's forgiveness. And God's grace is there for us. God will forgive us. Why? So that we might be cleansed and changed. So that we might join in the struggle for justice and righteousness, in the work of the kingdom. The good news is that God has not given up on us. The call to follow Jesus is still heard.
Jesus comes to us today as he came to the Jews who believed in him, and he says, "If you continue in my Word, then you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free."
We are justified by faith. That's God's business. Now we are called to continue in God's way by laying down our lives for others. That's our business. Amen.
